Comments

I think this is a mismatch, and a bit of a lose/lose situation for Joyce, because no matter how well he does, he is only doing what Wilder has already done. Joyce is 33, he does not have any time to waste, his prime will be short, but he needs to step up in opposition, it is too easy for him against the opponents he is fighting now, and more easy fights are not going to help him progress and learn. In this fight, Joyce can prove nothing he hasn't already proved. Stiverne is 39, he has had 3 fights in the last 4 years, 1 win in that time, one loss which was ruined him, hospitalised him, and killed his punch resistance, and another which proved that. The first Wilder fight was Stiverne at his best, the rematch was a mismatch, he got knocked out in 1 round, as expected, Stiverne had no resistance, had no success, was a completely shot fighter. Stiverne has not fought since the Wilder fight, 15 months ago, so that's a layoff if he hadn't been inactive enough beforehand, he has even more miles on him now after the Wilder fight, Joyce should beat him in 1 round, if it goes past 2, Joyce should not be happy with his performance. Stiverne probably won't get a brain injury or anything, but there is always a concern of that happening when fighters take beatings, and even if he doesn't get seriously injured as he hopefully won't, nobody wants to see a shot fighter get beaten up or knocked spark out.

If Joyce fights 3 times this year, steps up this year, then this fight is what it is, but this nothing more than a power display for Joyce, it is not a test, won't be an impressive win.

I think he may have been trolling the other guys comment from earlier. I’m down and depressed myself today, as I lost my job I worked so hard for, and had a guy I grew up with kill himself on Friday, so I’ll speak frankly. I like both you and Gold, and wish you guys were able to let bygones be bygones. Life is too short to be mad, upset, bitter, or any other ill willed feeling to control you. You don’t have to listen to me, but in my heart of hearts, that is currently hurting pretty bad, I wish you guys could get along.

I'm just joking about how NF82 said he thought it would go to points but didn't say who, so I replied by saying Stiverne on points. Stiverne himself today said he will KO Joyce and then KO Joshua, and it would be entertaining to see old man Stiverne derail a highly touted prospect like Joyce. As I've said before, it's not that I dislike Champ, it is that our conversations are not productive and he has asked for me not to reply to him, so as long as he doesn't reply to or delete my posts I will continue to do that. Sorry to hear you had lost your friend and your job. Hopefully, your fortunes will change for the better soon.

Mike Alvarado.
All I wanted you to admit was that saying he may well die in the ring was an exaggeration, I do not want to see him fight Ramirez for the same reason I do not want Stiverne to fight Joyce, nobody wants to see an old fighter become a KO victim, get battered, and be more a victim than an opponent.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Never said he shouldn't still be behind bars, you should whole heartedly respect anyone who steps in that ring if you don't already.

Brain damage.
I don't care about brain damage?, I pray for the safety of boxers, I don't want to see any fighter get brain damage, and I think you know that's true.

'Nice to see Bellew get knocked out after he stuck his tounge out at Usyk like he was Broner', etc,

You like to wind me up, the Thai fighter topic being brought up, just that particular topic was bound to prompt me to respond.

I am willing to try to get along with you, squash the beef, let you back into PCOM, if you acknowledge what I've said, because SalTnutZ1 is right.

It is an exaggeration but it is a partial truth, we saw 40 year old Adonis Stevenson who didn't have a whole lot of ring miles on him get put in a coma by Gvozdyk, 38 year old Mike Alvarado who has a lot of miles on him versus Ramirez could end very badly.

I respect Floyd as a boxer, he is one of the best pound for pound of all time. My point at the time was that you liking Floyd seems contradictory to the principles you apply to other boxers. You seem to prefer guys that don't talk a lot of trash and don't have negative out of the ring issues, both of which Floyd does.

When you suggest fights like Ramirez vs. Alvarado, it is easy for me to believe otherwise. As I said at the time, Alvarado is a shot fighter. If you have followed his career you'd agree, he took a lot of punishment in the Rios trilogy, the Provodnikov fight, and even the Marquez fight.

There are some things that are objectively true that I would like people to not be misled about such as Browne's amateur career being comparable to Jack's or better or even that the quality of opposition in building a fighter being far more important than the quantity of opponents.

I have never had a problem with you, it is just that on some things like the points I outlined above, we will never agree on, so it is not worth discussing them for both of us.

It is an exaggeration, thank you. Alvarado is shot, I do agree, I have followed his career. Put it this way, Alvarado fighting Ramirez would not be ideal, but no worse than Briggs fighting Klitschko, Hopkins fighting Kovalev (fresh for his age I know, but he was very, very old). Yes I know, that did cross my mind, but in my experience, fighters getting brain damage is tragic, and there is always a risk of it, fighters who get beaten up when they have a lot miles, at slightly more of a risk, but not much, that is, if they are showing no actual signs of pre-existing brain damage, and in all extreme liklihood, Alvarado would not get hospitalised by Ramirez, just KO'd, but I agree, a victim in the rong more than an opponent with a fighting chance, not what boxing is about. I want to highlight that your initial refusal to acknowledge your exaggeration was what annoyed me, not the exaggeration itself, but the way you denied it.

The sad thing is, you make a lot of good points, and I used to enjoy talking boxing with you, I would like you to give me more of a chance to explain exactly what I mean, because you are too stubborn. Quality over quantity, yes, absolutely, Takuma Inoue's opposition hadn't been strong, and Kiram's opposition hadn't been as bad as you might think, PABA level is not THAT low a level, I thought he would beat Matthysse due to size, age, being the fresher fighter, vast difference in activity, and I did see him fight, was impressed, I understand how important quality is, why do you think I struggled to make a prediction when I listed more reasons for Kiram winning?, because I understood, from when I wrote that analysis, that experience quality was always going to be a major factor, I also said, "one mistake, one mistake, and he is done!", well I was not that wrong about the fight overall, I stand by that, I had Kiram ahead after 7 rounds, he was ahead on my card, one of the judges', for the same reasons as I predicted him to win, whether or not I was right about it being a case of an inexperienced (inexperienced in terms of levels) being unlucky to be in against an opponent who can make a mistake cost you the fight, or whether Matthysse was going to take over anyway, I don't know, but I still think Kiram is better than you give him credit for.

It was more the way we had agreed not to talk, and you put that comment up, surely knowing that was going to antagonise me. For what it is worth, PALs, fighting within a competitive Boxing country which is the US, is good experience, but your argument about that, does not, in my opinion, compensate for Jack's amateur career, because Jack fought Usyk, was in the Olympics and another world tournament. Browne learned a lot from the Polish guy fight, maybe not so much from the knockdown himself, but fighters with relatively weak chins get dropped several times before they lose, doesn't mean they don't learn from the fights they get dropped in.

I've been on the brink of suicide, the last 2 years have killed me, I am not myself, I lose my temper a lot more easily than when I was who I want to be again, my tolerance is not high, for people like Gold, I will not tell you why I don't like him, because that's pointless, but I have my reasons, good reasons. Arguing with Gold has made my mental health a hell of a lot worse.

Me and Gold have been here before, we agree to disagree, go our separate ways, then something else happens, it becomes an argument, I don't enjoy insulting Gold one little bit, I'm pushed to it, I don't talk to him anymore, he is a nightmare.

In an ideal world, we would let Bygones be Bygones, because at the end of the day, I wish no harm to come to him, and I'm sure vise verse, you are right.

Fair enough, you don't have to like him. I'm impressed by Joyce, as an amateur, silver medallist, has impressed in his last couple of fights, I thought his knockouts against Hanks and Thomas were great, but I don't think they are top 50 heavyweights, and Stiverne is no step up, it is a terrible match up, and Joyce is very old for a prospect at 33, heavyweight or not.

But, he's also won a close decision against Hrgovic as an amateur. Not everything as a amateur is indicative of what they do as pros. I think Usyk did very well against him in the WSB, but we can all agree that Usyk is a pound for pound fighter, so losing to him in a semi-pro bout is nothing to be ashamed about.

I still don't see exactly what the weaknesses are that make you think he isn't good, or what he has done to make you dislike him, but I am guessing it is some rivalry with Yoka that goes back a long way.

Yep, but it is more evidence this is another cash out, and he isn't putting work in the gym much like the Wilder rematch. I mean, I already thought Joyce would KO him, now I just don't want to hedge my chances of winning on Bermane "Michelin Man" Stiverne making it 4 rounds.

Yeah well it definitely won't help him being so out of shape, I just think it is a terrible match up regardless, the sad thing is, if this was a 2014 Stiverne, this would be a great match up, and Stiverne would be a threat to Joyce at this early stage of his career, but Stiverne is inactive, out of shape, all his resistance is gone, he's deluded, and that makes him vulnerable, makes him more a victim than an opponent, lets just hope and pray he goes home safe and well.

Well I got to be honest fellas, on that performance I think Joyce is overrated. He's too amateurish still. I appreciate he hasn't been pro all that long but at 33 he needs to learn quickly. He's far to open to shots for a heavyweight. Fortunately for him Stiverne isn't a big puncher because he got tagged with a couple of huge shots in the 1st round.

When he steps up in class to face a serious opponent I think he gets knocked out.

He took those shots almost on purpose, he definitely took some on purpose after round 1, his whole attitude and mindset was wrong, he was having fun in there, it was too easy, Stiverne was a punch bag, but it isn't that he has resistance at this stage, Joyce carried him, which is poor, he needs to step up.

I pretty much agree with everything you wrote above. That he took shots from Stiverne in the 1st is a bad sign. He is going to get countered hard once he fights viable competition, so he better hope he has an iron chin, so that he can wear guys down with the work rate.

Terrible from Joyce! He could have stopped Stiverne a lot earlier, probably in 1, he just carried him, wanted to torture him, he should have got rid of him, but he needs rounds?, those rounds were hardly better than sparring, the answer is, he should be matched better, he would be better off losing to Luis Ortiz, putting in an honest night's work, learning a lot, coming back a better fight, than carrying Stiverne, stopping him as he was always going to.